In Which Tonks Has Too Much to Drink
by thatchesirecat
Summary: Whimsical werewolf falls in love with clumsy, colorful crimefighter. RL/NT drabble.


There probably hadn't been a proper party at Grimmauld place in years, if ever. Not that Remus had been to, at least. Clutching a Butterbeer and watching his only remaining best friend sway back and forth with the inebriated Hestia Jones and Dung, Remus realized that a party might be a good thing for all of them. And not just because of whom he was conversing with.

Bill Weasley had started it. He'd Apparated in just before Sirius started getting morose – right after dinner but before the gin came out. It had actually been a good night – _Tonks and Dung are exactly the sort of dinner company that Sirius needed to keep him from melancholy_, Remus thought. Tonks was almost as regular a feature at Grimmauld Place as he and Sirius these days, (although Remus couldn't fathom why, having heard somewhere that she did have her own flat) but despite his questions it was undeniable that she was excellent at keeping her cousin in a good mood; he was a little protective of her, being one of the few relatives he actually liked, but more than that she was just an infectiously happy person.

Dung had ruined it though, mentioning missing having Fred and George around the house and right when it looked like Sirius was going to take a nosedive, Bill Weasley Apparated over and announced that Fleur Delacour, girl of his dreams, had finally agreed to go on a date with him. Remus wasn't sure what it was, because it seemed like just the sort of news to make things worse (any mention of relationships, being something that Sirius could no longer have and used to love, did that) but Sirius, without hesitating, jumped up and embraced the younger man, declaring it an occasion for a party.

Kingsley and Hestia Jones had stopped in about a quarter of an hour later and were sucked in with the promise of just one toast. Sirius, champion of toasts, had them in for five before either of them remembered, at which point they decided it wasn't worth Splinching and settled down for the night. Dung began a favorite song of his and was joined quickly by Sirius and Hestia (the latter whom, after deciding to stay, downed nearly half a bottle of Odgen's Old, to Sirius' roar of approval) and Bill sunk into conversation with Kingsley. And Remus, much to his happy surprise, bumped gently into a small, pink-haired girl clutching a bottle of goblin-made wine as if her life depended on it. Remus relieved her.

"Would hate for you to drop it," he assured her, smiling. (She seemed to always make him want to smile.) "Sirius' mum used to guard this stuff with her life. I've only had it once before, but from what I remember it was one of the few good judgments she made in her life."

He Summoned a couple of glasses as she snorted a laugh. "From what you remember?" she asked. Remus just smiled, handing her a glass and toasting silently.

"Well here's to a night you hopefully won't forget then," she added and drank. Remus gulped too, trying to figure out if she was flirting with him, more than a little hopeful.

It was several hours later when she just let her glass slip through her fingers and she giggled, "Whoops," when Remus, recognizing a drunken Black when he saw one, put the nearly empty bottle away.

"I think you've had enough," he told her. Their party was still in swing, surprisingly, no one had really moved, although Dung had run out of songs and stepped aside for Hestia to lead the charge.

"I think I've had too much," she told him a little giggly, her hair shifting to blue. The drunker she got, he noticed, the more she shifted appearances.

"I know you Blacks," he said comfortably, sitting back down next to her. "You can hold your liquor."

"Well you're better than me," she said. "How is that fair?"

"Years of practice," he informed her, smiling, "and quite a few pounds." With that he was sitting next to a morbidly obese woman, who giggled and changed back quickly into her former visage, only this time with waist-length, midnight blue curls.

They sat in comfortable silence for a moment, Remus thinking, and trying not to think, about how no matter what she looked like she always managed to look so _Tonks_, like it was the air around her which defined her, instead of her own features.

"You know," she said quietly, leaning in, "I thought it was all for the worst earlier, when Bill came in."

Remus nodded in agreement, not needing to ask to know exactly who she was talking about.

"You know him better than I do," she said, twining a curl around her finger. "What happened?"

"I think," said Remus carefully, because he had been thinking about it all night, but was not doing so well on the talking front – Remus had always been a quiet drunk. "I think that it's because Bill looked exactly like James."

"I thought Harry looked like James and Lily was the redhead," asked Tonks, a small crease appearing between her brows.

"He did look like Harry. Almost exactly," said Remus slowly. "But the night when Lily finally said yes, she would go out with him, he looked exactly like Bill."

They both lapsed into silence again, contemplating the red haired man across the room, who hadn't stopped smiling all night.

"But why would Sirius be so happy then?" she asked after a while.

"Sirius was always a hopeless romantic," Remus told her, smiling. "He's a git, but he loved Lily and he loved that she made James so happy. And he loves Harry – always has. Part because he reminds him of what the two of them had, I think."

"Did you feel like that?" she asked. He answered without thinking.

"Of course. You always want what you can't have."

"Lily."

"Nah. Love."

"So you're a romantic too, huh?" He looked at her.

"No, Tonks. I'm a werewolf." She was quiet for another moment after, shifting her hair to purple, then blonde, then the bubblegum pink that was her favorite.

"That's stupid," she finally declared, a lot more emphatically then he was expecting. He raised an eyebrow at her. "Well it is," she said, raising her hands defensively. "You're funny and charming and good-looking, you're allowed to be romantic." There was a pause, and he just stared at her, shocked. Her eyes widened in shock and she muttered, loudly, "Bugger."

Remus started laughing and Tonks, peering up through her pink locks, joined him. And when she kissed him, tentatively but not unexpectedly, he found himself thinking that maybe she was right. _Whimsical werewolf falls in love with clumsy, colorful crimefighter. Has a nice ring to it._


End file.
